ligature spells and tying a man’s “nature”

Ligature spells are basically spells using knotting or tying to control a target’s sexual performance. They are often used to render a man impotent, or conditionally impotent, so that he can’t perform sexually with women or with certain women (usu. with any woman who is not the woman doing the ligature spell). Some traditional love and sex spells and formulas aren’t suitable for use by those in same-sex relationships without substitutions or changes, but the ones I’ve listed here all are.

There are a lot of these in hoodoo and they follow a predictable pattern, from which you can construct your own depending on what you have available. They usually call for a personal concern of the man (a cord soaked with his semen, one of his socks, a cloth used to clean his genitals after intercourse, etc).

One of Hyatt’s informants gives a version of this that was used by a worker in a case involving another woman. According to this informant, you would take a string and measure him (ie, his penis) and then tie it in nine knots and wear it around your waist (v. 3 p. 2378).

Hyatt records many versions of this type of spell in volume 3 of HCWR: I’ll give one from my hometown in Alabama that calls for bottling rather than tying, p. 2385.

The informant says you take the man’s urine, nine drops of dragon’s blood, nine gold-eye needles, and nine pins. Put them into a bottle with the points of the pins pointed upward. The worker keeps the bottle to keep his nature controlled, but can also use it to call him by shaking the bottle. This spell has a good bit in common with some spells of the intranquility type, as well.

And here’s one with an interesting side effect: You take a handkerchief and catch his semen with it, then iron the handkerchief, tie three knots in it, and keep it in the bottom of a trunk. As a result, “All ‘is nature will go to his head, an’ den he’ll come to be a man usin’ wit ‘is mouth. Dat’s why a lotta fellahs use wit dey mouth an’ can’t use down below here, becuz dey nature is taken away from dem.” (v. 3 p 2433)

§ 2 Responses to ligature spells and tying a man’s “nature”

This is all the informant reports in this account. Generally, there is no such thing as a prayer that must be said “just so” in traditional conjure, unless it’s a traditional Christian prayer, invocation of the Holy Trinity, etc. But most prayer, in this Protestant tradition, is extemporaneous and not rote. Even when there’s a traditional prayer associated with a type of working, you will find that prayers will vary among workers.